Well, for the moment it's confirmed, the engine is good.
I've done a compression test & No.4 cylinder that swallowed the bolt - or at least got one stuck in it's throat - has the highest compression of all the cylinders! I'm not sure how that can be, but I ran the test a few times & No. 4 was consistently the highest.
I made a few minor changes while it was all in bits, I re-printed the trumpets in ABS because while the PLA ones had survived, they had visibly distorted in the heat. ABS has a higher heat tolerance
I also re-drew them as they were drawn in CATIA V5, which is OK, but I now use OnShape, so I have them on file there.
They are of course still orange.
Next were some new bolts, a bit of an extravagance these. They are titanium & drilled for wire locking. I would've been perfectly happy with steel, but it seems if you want them drilled, titanium is what they have to be. Yes, I could've drilled them myself, but that left the problem of de-burring inside the hex & the danger of burrs breaking away & getting into the engine.
So here they are installed (which was a real faff) & wired, not to aircraft standard - the older I get, the better I was - but they're not going to come out again. the two end bolts are wired to locking lugs riveted (with solid rivets) to the airbox back plate.
The airbox went back on with larger, less fiddly bolts, you can just see the lip of No.1 trumpet through the hose connector
The hose from the air filter went back on & that was it all back together. I turned it over & it fired up & settled into a nice smooth idle. I've not taken it out on the road yet, my girlfriend says I need to put the bonnet back on "because it's not a hot rod". So in the next day or so I'll just do that final test.
Phew! I am SO pleased the fix was a simple one.
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